


in unexpected places

by orphan_account



Series: until one day i had enough of this exercise of trust [2]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Female Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-New Moon, Pre-Eclipse, Rosalie only caring about Bella bc of the demon child pissed me off - Freeform, Rosalie: get in loser we're going to therapy, and Bella is still lowkey scared of her, in an ideal world where Edward and Bella don't immediately get back together, ok but like don't worry Rosalie still has an attitude, so i am fixing it, the gal pals we frankly deserved - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-07 10:25:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12230973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Rosalie Hale's designer heels clack against the damp pavement of the road and Bella Swan swears she sees her life flash before her eyes because this absolutely cannot be real.





	in unexpected places

**Author's Note:**

> [ song insp.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nH14ak9yJI)
> 
> I just want more girls supporting girls thru hard times.

 

 Waking up, she'd thought, would be easier with them back. _All_ of them -- her once family. But, somehow, she still finds her movements groggy and grudging as she pulls herself out of bed and forces herself to get dressed. When she looks in the mirror now, she thought she'd hear his words echoing in her head, ' _I've never stopped loving you. How could I? I thought it was what was safest_.' But all Bella can honestly hear is the blood rushing to her ears, reminding her of the long leap she'd taken off that cliff. Reminding her that she's still _barely_ alive. The water rising in her throat, suffocating her lungs, her silent screams going completely unheard.

 How odd, to spend more than half a year pining after her supposed lifeline, only to get him back and realize that it changes nothing at all.

She's still missing all the pieces that matter; the ones that belong to her only. 

Sometimes in her more desperate moments, she thinks it might have been better if they'd both died after all. Just like Romeo and Juliet, a story that once held true as the ultimate romance in her mind, but now she understands clearly why it's classified as a tragedy. They could not survive without each other and maybe -- just maybe -- humans aren't made for such dependency. And that's the problem, isn't it? 

In the end, she's just a human. 

She swallows the bile rising in the back of her throat at the thought, reminder. _Human._ She's spent so long trying to keep up with vampires that now the word feels entirely unclean to her -- wrong. She's wrong because compared to them she is weak, and tiny, and insignificant. If she cuts herself on paper, it's her fault for bleeding in front of the predators she's attached herself to. If she can't forgive Edward, after all of this, then it's obviously her fault for not being so strictly set in her ways as a vampire is. Humans are fickle, prone to change of thought. And she's been changing her mind a lot recently. 

Her heart is still screaming for him. 

Her mind keeps taking her back to that cliff. 

It remains to be seen which will win out.

( she'd settle for just feeling _okay_. ) 

Her truck becomes her new best friend.

Jacob is still not talking to her, still impossibly furious with her for going after _him._  She'd tried to explain that it isn't like that, not anymore, and managed to convince neither of them. So, she takes long drives through Forks in silence -- Emmett and Jasper had offered to install the radio back in for her, and she did not have the heart to tell them she'd taken one of Charlie's sledgehammers to it on a particularly bad day. It doesn't matter. The silence can't possibly hurt her anymore than she is already, and though Alice tries to mend the gap still hanging between them, it's not the same. She knows very well that her tiny friend doesn't understand why she couldn't just go running back into Edward's arms and that's not really her fault. She's had Jasper for so long she's probably forgotten what it's like to be alone, questioning. 

Her own mind becomes her worst enemy. 

 _Take him back_ , whispers her heart. _Put an end to this already. This is what you spent months moping for_. 

But her head isn't having any of it, not anymore. Haunted by images of her sunken in face in mirrors, her hair knotted and tangled, and her nails scratching the length of her arms in unbearably uncomfortable situations. Clothes that were far too large for her steadily shrinking frame -- clothes that won't even make it past her _hips_ these days, all sitting in trash bags in the donation box outside the police department now. She remembers it all too vividly, like it's a silent horror film playing on repeat in the back of her mind. She can feel the dread, the expectation for the inevitable demise of the heroine, only it never comes because somehow she's still alive. Despite it all. 

Carlisle had gently chewed her out for not taking care of herself in his patient way. Esme would've cried, Bella knows, if she only could. 

She hates hurting them. Hates hurting _him_. But she's done playing martyr for other people's feelings. Mostly, she's done with killing herself over it all. 

If there's ever going to be an _Edward and Bella_ again, there needs to be a whole _Bella_ first and foremost. 

* * *

Her quiet weeks of contemplating -- and struggling -- come to an abrupt and bittersweet end with the engine of her beloved truck giving in. She tries everything, even going so far as to pull up the hood and stare perplexedly at the machinery beneath, as if she has any idea what any of it does exactly. The smoke seems...not good, though, so inevitably Bella ends up tugging out her flip phone and dialing her father's work line grumpily. 

It goes to voicemail.

She tries the house phone -- still no luck. _He's probably gone to see Billy_ , she thinks through gritted teeth. And there's no trying to contact Jake, considering his serious and likely contagious case of sour grapes. Yeah, no. She's really not in the mood to deal with _that._

Scrolling through her contacts angrily, Bella pauses briefly before she reconsiders entirely. Not today. Not him. Not when she's been doing _so well._

But... 

Just as she's about to give in, the roar of an oncoming car alerts her to the fact that this backroad street is not quite as deserted as usual. Bella's eyes widen when she realizes just how fast this car is coming at her -- and her poor truck -- and she lets out a string of muffled curses before ducking closer to the emergency lane and onto the grass. When she raises a hand to signal help, she realizes the flashy, speed-demon car is already pulling to a conclusive stop. And she recognizes the driver that steps out, slamming their door. 

Rosalie Hale's designer heels clack against the damp pavement of the road and Bella Swan swears she sees her life flash before her eyes _because this absolutely cannot be real._

"Alice saw your bucket of bolts finally dying," Rosalie says curtly, eyeing Bella's truck with an expression of thinly veiled disgust. "She seemed to be of the opinion that you'd be heartbroken over it and begged me to try and save it." 

"Oh," Bella blinks. "That's... really nice of you." At Rosalie's quirked brow, she adds. "Oh, um, go for it? But be careful, I don't think it's supposed to be smoking like that." 

The blonde bombshell rolls her eyes but says nothing in response, instead opting to move to examine the still-smoking engine with an entirely telling grimace.

_This is going to be bad, isn't it?_

 "Um, tell Alice thanks when you see her. It's nice of her to be looking out, you know?" 

"Tell her yourself." 

At the blunt reply, Bella blanches. Rosalie's expression gives away nothing, but Bella highly suspects that Alice has probably been lamenting about their separation for a while now. It must be more than a little irritating to hear your sister constantly talk about someone you really dislike. Anxiously, she begins nibbling on her nails and keeping her eyes averted from the vampire altogether. 

"... I didn't," there's a disgruntled sigh. "I didn't mean to sound so short with you. Honestly, I think you keeping your distance is wise, given the circumstances." 

"Oh." 

As she twists some parts around that would likely require tools if not for super vampiric strength, Rosalie sighs again. "I will say that without you around things have gotten, dare I say it, _boring_. Everyone's miserable." 

A pause.

"But I get it," she continues, glancing up with her molten gold eyes and Bella finds herself drawing her hand away from her mouth in shock. "I understand, I think. You've always just been the clumsy, _extremely inconvenient_ human we'd have to look after. But, you saved him. After everything, still thinking he'd left for such selfish reasons, you still went after him." Rosalie appears, for a moment, grudgingly impressed. "I get it now. I still think you're an idiot, but I can understand why you act so foolishly now at least." 

"That..is probably not a compliment, but it's probably the nicest thing you've said to me, so thanks?"

"You're welcome," comes the deceptively dry response. A slam of the hood, and Bella notices belatedly that the smoking has stopped. Rosalie gives her a loaded look; one full of emotions she can't precisely place because she's never seen the blonde display any type of feeling aside from complete distain. "It's not a permanent fix," she says slowly, and it sounds like she may be talking about more than the truck. Bella lowers her gaze, embarrassed at the sudden feeling of being completely transparent. "It'll get you to an actual mechanic at the very least." 

"Thank you, Rosalie." 

As she passes by on the way back to her own car, Rosalie pauses briefly to glance over her shoulder. "And Bella?" 

"Yeah?"

"More often than not, pulling over to the side of the road is the right call." 

It feels strange, hearing such a thing from _Rosalie Hale_ of all people. Somehow, that makes it mean so much more. 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> is this like bad cos not even I can tell if I like it or hate how cryptic the exchange between them is


End file.
